Exams and Defenses

Depending on a student's preference, graduate students will have between two and four defenses in their academic careers at UMass.

Comprehensive Exams

At least one of the two comprehensive exams must be an empirical paper. The other can be an empirical paper, a theoretical/meta-review paper, or an actual written examination conducted over a period set by your committee.

A public defense is required for at least one of the two comprehensive exams. A written exam cannot be defended publicly.

The first comprehensive exam can also be a Master's thesis, in which case it must be defended publicly. In almost all cases, a Master's thesis is an empirical paper. It cannot be a written exam.

Prospectus

You are not required to hold a public defense for your prospectus. Rather than a public defense, you may have a closed meeting with your dissertation committee.

Dissertation

There is a required public defense that is advertised to the department and broader community. The defense must be announced a minimum of 30 days before the defense date.

Forming a Committee

Graduate students are responsible for forming committees for their first and second comprehensive examinations and the prospectus/dissertation.

The first and second comps committees:

Must have a minimum of three members, with at least two from the Department of Sociology at UMass Amherst.
Must have one chair or two co-chairs, with at least one from the Department of Sociology at UMass Amherst.
Can have an outside member.
Do not need to be nominated to the Graduate School.
The chair of the first and second comps committees must be different.

The Master’s thesis/prospectus/dissertation committee:

Must have a minimum of three members, with at least two from the Department of Sociology at UMass Amherst.
Must have one chair or two co-chairs, with at least one from the Department of Sociology at UMass Amherst.
The MA thesis/prospectus/dissertation committees must be nominated to the Graduate School by the GPD.
The Graduate School issues a memo of nomination once approved that is to be circulated to the committee.
Any changes to the committee must be submitted for approval to the Graduate School with a memo.
Members from institutions outside of UMass Amherst must receive temporary graduate faculty status by the Graduate School.

Graduate Faculty Status

Committee members from institutions besides UMass Amherst must be nominated to the Graduate School for Graduate Faculty Status. To nominate a committee member, the GPM/GPD submits a Graduate Faculty Status Request - One-Time Committee Status application along with the member’s date of birth, CV and a brief statement of the applicant’s relevance to the dissertation for which they would be sitting. This application is submitted to the Graduate Dean for approval.

Scheduling a Defense

When a student is ready to defend a comp, master’s thesis, prospectus, or dissertation, the chair of the committee will send out a poll to all members of the committee to find the best date and time for the defense.

The chair will work with the GPM to secure a space for the defense and work out tech needs. For virtual defenses, the chair will create the Zoom link.